National Dish

Named a Best Book of 2023 by Financial Times The Guardian and BBC's The Food Programme. “Anya von Bremzen already a legend of food writing and a storytelling inspiration to me has done her best work yet. National Dish is a must-read for all those who believe in building longer tables where food is what bring us all together.” —José Andrés. “If you’ve ever contemplated the origins and iconography of classic foods then National Dish is the sensory-driven historical deep dive for you . . . [an] evocative gorgeously layered exercise in place-making and cultural exploration nuanced and rich as any of the dishes captured within.” —Boston Globe. In this engrossing and timely journey to the crossroads of food and identity award-winning writer Anya von Bremzen explores six of the world’s most fascinating and iconic culinary cultures—France Italy Japan Spain Mexico and Turkey—brilliantly weaving cuisine history and politics into a work of scintillating connoisseurship and charm. We all have an idea in our heads about what French food is—or Italian or Japanese or Mexican or . . .  But where did those ideas come from? Who decides what makes a national food canon?  Anya von Bremzen has won three James Beard Awards and written several definitive cookbooks as well as her internationally acclaimed memoir Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. In National Dish she investigates the truth behind the eternal cliché—“we are what we eat”—traveling to six storied food capitals going high and low from world-famous chefs to culinary scholars to strangers in bars in search of how cuisine became connected to place and identity.. A unique and magical cook’s tour of the world National Dish brings us to a deep appreciation of how the country makes the food and the food the country.